JAPAN: Dragon Quest boosts DSi sales

As games markets on both the near and far sides of the Atlantic stutter in the face of barren release schedules and a thinning H2'09 lineup, proof of the positive overall effect of proper triple-A software has made itself evident on the far side of the globe.

The increasingly difficult Japanese market received a huge boost last week with the release of Square Enix RPG Dragon Quest IX – and now the knock-on effect in the hardware market can be seen.

Sales of Nintendo's DSi increased by well over 100 per cent compared to last week, jumping from 46,855 to 118,202. DS Lite climbed too, with sales increasing by almost 3,000 to reach 10,161.

Numbers elsewhere remained low, however. PSP was the next biggest seller at 26,527, followed by Wii (22,141), PS3 (9,864), Xbox 360 (3,561) and PS2 (3,508).